Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Well, the long awaited report is out and I have been disturbed to read that some of my colleagues think it is OK. This Government has been working the media like a puppet and putting out the most outrageously false and malicious examples of police pay and allowances to gain public and media support. Officers should not be duped by this. The media have concentrated on the financial stuff and it is true that officers might have been even worse off financially, but 40% of officers will lose around £3000, or more, a year and ALL officers will be worse off taking account of the recommended cuts, a two year pay freeze, increased pension contributions and inflation. On top of this, the pension review is yet to come and it is looking more and more likely that as well as a 3% increase in pension contributions, the benefits will be considerably reduced. There is talk of pensions being paid on the average of your whole career rather than final salary and that you may not be able to actually get your pension until aged 65.

The most worrying of the Winsor recommendations do not involve salary or allowances, but will effect officers futures dramatically. These include redundancy, expansion of Pension Regulation A19, on call and changes to shifts. I have summarised some of the key recommendations below with my personal notes on how this may effect officers in the future. Believe me we are being shafted!

Recommendation 2. Officers working between 2000 and 0600 will receive an extra 10% on pay only for those hours. (This extra pay is not pensionable. This is less than CRTP which is pensionable. Therefore less pension.)

5. The Chief Constable should only have to consult the Police Federation on shift patterns and not have to obtain agreement as they do now. (This would effectively mean Chief Officers would be able to impose any shift pattern they wish.)

6. Overtime currently incurred on a normal shift and currently paid at time and a third to be paid at flat rate. No minimum four hours, just the time you work and travelling time. (So, if you are on call and have to take a call to give firearms advice etc. You get paid 30 minutes? More about on call later.)

7. Overtime paid for rest days less than 15 all to be paid at time and a half. No double time for less than 5.

8. Officers to be paid double time for Christmas Day and seven other days of their choice. ( So no automatic payment for all Bank Holidays. This is a reduction as some years there are 11 Bank Holidays.)

11. Mutual Aid, officers to be paid only for time worked and travelling time.

12. Officers retained overnight on mutual aid etc. have to be provided with a single room and en suite. If not, they can claim £30 overnight allowance. (This is a huge change to the Hertfordshire agreement, where officers were paid 8 hours for sub standard accommodation.)

13. Officers held on reserve to be paid an on call allowance of £15. (So you hang around all day waiting for a call to go to work and all the restrictions that means for £15?)

15. No appeal to the Secretary of State for officers with business interests. (This may cause difficulties as more and more officers seek second jobs to pay the bills.)

25. Chief Officer bonus scheme to be suspended for two years. (Just so you know they are suffering too, but their £100K plus should see them through.)

28. Higher basic pay for Metropolitan Inspectors and Chief Inspectors to be retained in the short term. (So I guess after the Olympics, don't be surprised if you are reduced to the country bumpkin levels of pay.)

29. CRTP abolished as of 31 August 2011. (This was an additional pensionable allowance for those at the top of their pay scale.) Also, there are to be no incremental pay rises for two years. (So, a two year pay freeze and no increments or CRTP to help out.

31. Team Awards of between £50 and £100 p.a. for good work.

32. ACPO and the Police Federation to establish a working group to establish a series of new National Policing Awards. (Sounds like one of these American style bashes where we all try and big each other up and forget the real world of unpaid bills.

33. Abolish SPP's as of 31st August 2011. (For some officers in my Force this means a loss of £6800!)

34. Introduce an interim Expertise and Professional Accreditation reward of £1200 per annum. (The examples in the report show it being paid to Neighbourhood Officers, Accredited detectives and PSU officers. It partly compensates some for loss of SPP but is also clearly designed as the start of a plan of pay differentials between officers performing different functions. If you move to another function you lose it and it is not pensionable.)

42. Regional Allowances to remain in the short term. (Again, I strongly suspect that after the Olympics this will be reviewed.)

43. The replacement to housing allowance will be frozen as of 31 August 2011. (Inflation will erode this allowance and again reduce officers standard of living.)

44. A national on call allowance to be introduced of £15 per day, after the officer has completed 12 days of on call. (This has major implications. At present, on call is voluntary. The introduction of the allowance may make it mandatory for all officers. It appears that you will have to do 12 days of on call for nothing each year and then only get paid from the 13th. The payment is derisory for the inconvenience of being held in reserve for a day or being woken up at 0400.)

48. Maternity pay will increase from 13 to 18 weeks. (Good, but this just puts us in line with other organisations.)

52-54 All relate to unsatisfactory performance and the suggestion that there should be a cross border cadre of ACC level experts to deal with UPP. (This tells you that the organisation wants to get a lot tougher and more professional on UPP so that they can deal more effectively with it.)

57. Expand the use of Pension Regulation A19 so that it can be used for service critical skills and performance. ( This is very worrying and would effectively mean that once you reach pensionable service you can be dispensed with for almost any reason.)

58. As soon as possible, voluntary exit terms for police officers should be implemented as per the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. (Buried almost at the rear of the report is this huge change to police officers status as officers of the crown. If implemented, this recommendation will mean that officers can be made redundant. In an organisation that Chief Officers reorganise every five minutes this is a huge risk to officers. You find your department amalgamated or moved and instead of a move to another station you could be facing redundancy.)

Sorry this is quite long, but I think it is worth airing. You can see the full report if you follow this link.

My condolences to all fellow officers, but this is going to be a difficult few years and everyone is going to have to tighten their belts. I only hope that the Police Federation can negate some of these recommendations and do their utmost to ensure officers standards of living are maintained. When the Fed ask for action, officers must support them.

28 comments:

You seem to have missed out freezing incremental pay rises on the 10-year scale - that's going to cost me £4200 over the next 2 years, and leave me trailing my more senior colleagues in pay for years, before we even get started on the rest.

Not only have we got to deal with the Winsor report but we have the BBC lies and fact bending to deal with. 10 o'clock news on Tuesday evening had 'fact' relating to Bank Holiday work being paid at double time with a day off in lieu (wrong unless the requirement to work is with less than 8 days notice) and overtime worked with less than 5 days notice being double time (wrong unless the overtime is a cancelled rest day). This tosh will be read by the average viewer with no knowledge of Police Regs or staff pay structure and taken as accross the board truth. Are the BBC and other news media organisations in cahoots with the Home Secretary and her cronies and trying to turn public opinion against us?

Oh well. my 30 years is up on 18/03/2014. I can no longer see myself wanting to remain in The Job, serving the public. I'll get myself a no risk/ responsibilty job somewhere, collect my doublessly drastically butchered pension and top it up with benefits.

Just had sight of soem of th pension review. It looks like I won't be retiring in a couple of years and topping up my pension with a lower paid job. I will be looking for a higher paid job so my family and I can survive until my pension starts to pay out.

That is going to be one higher paid job NOT available to someone else.

You are not officers, you hold no commission in the armed forces. One needs a modicum of guts for that. Remember boys and girls, ball bearings under horses hooves work wonders. Sugar added to a Molotov makes it stick.

Anon, I am responsible for having 2 million innocent folks DNA samples deleted. Oh what is that you say? "DNA records deletion is at the discretion of the Chief Constable". Until now yes. Post Marper there was another ruling at Strasbourg. As I said to Jean Paul Costa "With their track record of mendacity there is no trust in the police in Britain. Therefore all deletion of DNA must be totally independent and verifiable".

£15 on call, and pay for hours worked?! In a rural setting this could be a nightmare getting called for less than on hour at a time during the night! at least as thing stand at present a 4hour call out ensures that the cost is considered and you aren't ordered on duty for every trivial call that oculd wait until morning!

So Joe/Ron whatever your name is.You're an IRA supporting ex Intelligence Corps, pro Israeli, anti-police, low level, internet agitator.For some reason you seem to believe that because your DNA was once allegedly wrongly taken and you have appealed you are in some way "involved" in the Marper ruling. Other than fantasy of being on speaking terms with the president of the ECHR are there any other fairy tales you want to tell us?

I taught dolphins to attach mines to Viet Cong boat in the 'Nam, I invented the question mark. De Menezes was not killed, it was all a "fit up" to make a bunch of brain dead trigger happy racists look bad. Why is pro-Israeli anti-police? I am not pro-Israeli in all aspects, just as far as the existence of Israel. Do you hate Jews Tango? "Allegedly" wrongly taken? Typical plod, the suspect IS ALWAYS GUILTY. I am not on speaking terms with J P Costa, I am on writing terms. Please, constable, if you can't kep up don't try to join in.

Fuz, always nice to talk to a grunt. You are the law makers, the UK is a de facto police state. Anon, check the last post on Fred Goodwin, far more than you accrue. Now back to handcuffing dudes and whacking them 6 vs 1 as I saw recently. You are lower than whale shit.

Tang0 - carry on troll baiting. It is mildly amusing to read the ravings of this ex Intelligence Corps, 'Nam dolphin training, pen friend of Jean Paul Costa. Delusional idiots like @Mcfarlane remind you that there are still a few people out there living on the planet Zog. The internet has allowed them to communicate and convince themselves that they have sufficient numbers to be relevant and they are not alone in their bigoted fantasy world. This one really needs to grow up!

Zog? How telling, Zionist Occupational Govt. One always know that scum gravitate to joining the police. If anyone is delusional it is yourself. As soon as you leave the comfy station it is out into a world where you are at best detested at worst targetted. Oderint dum metuant? That day is long passed, the executioner is overdue for the thick blue line. Each day you lose, we win. Look at us each step you take, our eyes blaze hatred towards you. Forget Granny O'Grady and her cat stuck up a tree. It is all Fitwatch and EGT now. Excuse me it is the postman, another letter from Strasbourg! Numbers. Well on a police blog (as on a BNP or nonces blog) one expects a view that will accord with those logged in. Try The Grauniad for a real feel of how you are viewed. How does it feel that have decent folks despise you Constable?

Unlike you, I am not familiar with nonces or BNP blogs - though I have arrested several people of each persuasion and indeed one or two of both. Generally I prefer to stand up for what I believe is right - to the extent of putting my life on the line and arresting those, for example, who are violent and dangerous criminals, rather than live steeped in self-perceived injustices sniping anonymously, and pointlessly from my comfy armchair via my internet connection.

As far as my blog-roll goes - if you had any sort of well-reasoned or even consistent principles then I might consider following yours (which of those two categories it would fall into I am not quite sure).

I particularly enjoy the pompous nature with which you sprinkle your posts with Latin and overuse the word "we". Difficult to work out if that is your delusion of royalty or if you really think either your ex-Intelligence Corps(!) colleagues or the Grauniad readership stand shoulder to shoulder with your IRA brothers.

I am perfectly happy with how I am viewed - as every day I deal with real-life people rather than internet dribblers.

How does it feel to have to come on a police blog to get somebody to talk to you?

I contacted my local Conservative MP as a police pensioner regarding the Winsor report and other conservative policies.His response was that police officers didn't require any academic entry qualifications and so should not be paid as much as vets and quantity surveyors etcI pointed out to him that being a police officer is b. more dangerous than being a quantity surveyor and if salary was based on entry qualifications then some MPs would get a bit more than nowt.This government are not your friends guys and neither are they the friend of any employee of the public sector!

I take it that Winsor has also insisted that certain management "Spanish Practices" should also be thrown out. If officers are to be treated as nothing more than ordinary labourers, and when it comes to overtime and Rest day working treated even worse, that officers will no longer have to notify the job of their whereabouts when they go on holiday or if they are "away from home" overnight when they are not on duty.

I take it he has recommended the abandonnment of officers simply being forced to remain on duty at the end of their shifts just because it has been decided there is some problem that needs dealing with or it has been decided there is a shortage of staff.

I take it Winsor has recommended, and here I am risking the midnight knock on the door for the criminal offence, which applies to both officers and non-officers alike, of Incitement to Disaffection, that officers should be allowed to join a Trade Union, should be allowed to take work to rule and to be allowed to take strike action and that they will be allowed the full freedom of political association with any party of their choice.

I take it officers will be allowed to hand in their notice and leave the job after working out the usual period of notice as other workers and that they will no longer be prevented from doing so by senior officers for whatever reason.

I take it there will no longer be restrictions on where officers decide to reside.

Perhaps it is time the Federation went to the ECHR and demanded that officers be given their full human rights and should no longer have these totally archaic restrictions imposed on their private lives.

All these rights, and many, many others enjoyed by ordinary members of society, are removed from Police Officers.

On thing I would point out to the arrogant and insufferable politician who made the snide remarks about "qualifications", there are even less qualifications, including academic, legal and social to becoming a politician or even a member of the front benches.

Perhaps, before he gets on his high horse again over such matters he should take a close look in the mirror and at those sitting around him in Parliament.

Thank God I'm out of it because I can see the job rapidly returning to the bad old days of the 1970s when officers were leaving in droves because of a total lack of moral and new recruits were conspicuous by their absence.

I joined in the early 1960s and was proud of being in the job until I finished in the early 1990s. Would I be happy to join now? No, definitely not and neither would I advise anybody else to join, it is simply not worth it either financially or socially because even those who should be giving succour and support are now treating and behaving towards you as if you were the scum of the earth.

I am appalled at the manner in which those who have followed me in the job are being treated especially in view of the fact that those very people should know far better.

Weren't you the ones who charged at miners for complaining about wage cuts and redundancy?. The same policies that helped to destroy the unions. Now you can't even strike!

The conservative way is the easy way and that's not necessarily the best way. They just dont like to break a sweat, that's all.

Now 20 years later we have an energy crisis but where are all the mines? They didn't think about that did they, just like they are not thinking now, it's all short term gain but sooner or later their plans will end in dismal failure.

Anonymous 1554 - the police haven't been able to strike since 1919.Mines were closed because they were uneconomic. It was cheaper to buy coal from Columbia than to use our own. If coal prices rise then it may be worth mining here again. I have never understood this argument about subsidising our coal production. North Sea oil is reaching the stage where many oil fields are becoming uneconomic. Are we going to subsidise the oil industry to keep those fields open? The argument is nonsensical.

I don't like much of what the Conservatives do but don't forget it was Labour who spent us into huge debt during a time of plenty. The present Government is trying to sort out the mess they left during a worldwide recession. Every damn Labour government leaves the economy in a bloody mess.

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The opinions and views expressed here are mine, and mine alone. They do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of the Utopian Police Force nor the City of Utopia.The stories I tell here are all true but my purpose is not technical accuracy. My purpose is to illustrate the nature of policing in an educational and entertaining way.

I have tried to respect the privacy of the citizens of the city and to relate specific facts without identifying individuals. I believe I succeed in this but if you do recognize yourself and believe others will too, please contact me and I shall rectify it.